The
reason most skilled Precision-Shooters dont make more money is because of the way
that they BET, and NOT the way that they SHOOT!

I
Have to Keep My Job Just to Afford These Bets

That
is precisely what one friend said as he was commenting on my observations about how
expensive some of his long-shot craps bets were.When
I pointed out that even his lowliest $4 See a Horn, Bet a Horn approach
to random-rollers was costing him on average $24-per-hour, he seemed genuinely surprised.While he may have suspected just how expensive
they were, it struck a chord with him because that $24/hour cost equally matched what his
day-job paid him (pre-tax).He replied,
I guess when you put it that way, its like working all day so that I can
afford to make these stupid bets at night.

At
that point, I didnt want to burst his bubble any further by explaining what his
progressive Hopping Big Red bets on random-rollers were actually costing him on an hourly
basis.I dont think he would have taken
the disappointing news very well.My only
reply was, I guess thats a good enough reason to keep your day job then.

Risk-Taking
INCREASES Your Loss-Tolerance

An
occasional high-risk win will generally wipe out memories of all the losing bets that led
up to that single victory.Selective-memory
lets you merrily view that one winning bet as a reason, and further motivation, to make
more and more riskier bets.

It
gives you a false sense of confidence in your seeming ability to correctly select and time
your bets on random-rollers.

In
fact, fueled by greed, some people will actually step up their betting-level,
betting-frequency and betting-intensity based solely on ONE random win, instead of
carefully weighing each subsequent decision on its own merit.

Unfortunately,
the more often that you put your money at ever-increasing risk, the more you are preparing
and NUMBING yourself to the effects of higher and higher losses.

Conservative
Start, Disorderly Ending

When
you mature as a player, you are more likely to begin each session with a pre-determined
game-plan.As your skill and knowledge of the
game improves, youll probably find that your pre-set win-goal, loss-limit and
betting strategies become more clearly defined.

However,
once most players begin a new session, a lot of them forget about their plan, or they
simply choose to discard it altogether.For
example, they will start out quite conservatively.Theyll
look at the mood of the table and the trend of the dice.Theyll maintain a sober perspective as they size up the
game, and they wont be too anxious to jump in to the betting-pool with both feet.Yet once they are comfortable, many seasoned
players not only let down their initially cautious guard, they loosen up their betting
discipline to the point of near recklessness.

Simply
stated; Once you are comfortable with the risks that you are taking, your
loss-tolerance will usually increase.

Once
they reach their comfort-zone, players often loosen up the purse-strings, and lower their opportunity-to-bet
threshold or their bet-size-to-bankroll ratio beyond all reason or proportion.

If
you start out with a conservative betting approach, but end up with no control over your
bankroll, its time to figure out WHY.

Something
To Ask Yourself

If
that scenario continually happens to you, let me ask you this:

On
the occasions where your game-plan gets thrown out, is it because you are generally
winning or generally losing?

In
MOST cases, your betting-plan gets tossed out because you are losing.

Many
players figure that since they are behind the winning-curve, they need to
change their betting-methods in an aggressive attempt to recoup their loss.In most cases, this is a disaster waiting to
happen.Once in a while, you will manage to
pull one out of the fire, and fall backwards into a profit; however, most times it is just
the opposite.

In
most cases, a small loss turns into a HUGE loss simply because you abandon your game-plan
since it didnt appear to be living up to its potential, or it didnt appear to
be living up to its potential, FAST ENOUGH to satisfy YOU.

What
Leads You into Temptation?

FRUSTRATION
and IMPATIENCE can erode discipline as fast as any unfettered fear or unbridled greed.

Frustration
and impatience leads directly to taking bigger and bigger chances to get back to
even.As you increase the amount
of risk that you are willing to take in your quest to regain those losses, your pain (your
losses) mount until there is virtually no hope of salvaging that session.At that point, you can mark another one down on
the loss-side of the ledger.For the
undisciplined player, huge losses are never alone on that side of the win/loss list, and
they are certainly never alone for long.

A
lot of players start each session with a ton of discipline, patience and resolve.Slowly, as more and more bets are made, their
resolve starts to erode and their discipline diminishes.

The
first thing you have to do about starting strong, but finishing weak, is to determine just
why it is you are allowing this to happen to you and your game-plan.

ØIs
it because other players are making bigger bets than you are?Does that make you feel inferior or
self-conscious?

ØIs
it because other players are making more money than you are?Are you jealous, envious or just plain feeling
left out of the profit-making process?

ØIs
it the frustrating perception that each dice-outcome that you havent bet on is a
lost opportunity?Do you belong
to the gamblers club that subscribes to the Id rather have a losing bet out
there, than to stand idly by as numbers roll and have no money in action at all!
mindset?To some people, a missed
bet can be more aggravating and maddening than actually losing a bet that never paid
off in the first place.

ØDo
you get the strong urge to do something, instead of just standing there and
waiting for an outcome?Do you start to feel
anxious or nervous when you dont have money out on the table?

ØIf
you only have one or two wagers on the layout, do you feel that certain betting
opportunities are still passing you by?

ØDoes
your impatience grow as more and more numbers roll, but none of them are generating
payoffs for your particular bets?

ØIf
you dont have any wagers on the table, do you feel any ever-growing sense of urgency
to get into the action?

ØIf
some of your bets start to lose, do you sometimes ramp-up the size or the risk-factor of
any new bets that you are making?

If
you answered, YES to any of these questions, do you know WHY you do the things that you
do?

Other
than the obvious, because Im trying to recoup my losses answer,
the underlying fault may lay with the fact that steady and frustrating losses have a way
of NUMBING your senses, and dulling your COMMON-SENSE.As we lose more money, we place LESS and LESS value on our remaining funds,
and we are therefore willing to risk more and more of them in an attempt to recoup our
current losses.

In
some cases, the feeling of anxiety over missing out on a possible profit-opportunity is so
strong that it overpowers your patience and discipline to stay within your well thought
out game-plan.

That
way of thinking pretty much guarantees that you will end up just like 98% of all the other
players who feel and think exactly the same way as you do.You will continually LOSE, just like THEM.

When
the urge to bet outweighs the discipline to wait for proper betting
opportunities, we momentarily ignore our pre-game plans.With each subsequent outcome of our bets in an
ongoing series, we may become more likely to continue ignoring or even completely
abandoning our gameplan.

When
you toss out your game plan, you usually toss out discipline, patience and resolve right
along with it.

Does
Your Pre-Game Resemble Your Post-Game?

Pre-Game

Its
always interesting to watch sportscasts where the commentators are running down the key
elements that each team will have to address if they want to win the game.Many times the pre-game interviews with players
will show optimistic outlooks and indicate steely determination to overcome certain
disadvantages one team may have over the other, and talk will turn to certain determining
factors that are seen as critical linchpins in the success strategy that each team plans
to employ.

The
mindset of a professional Precision-Shooter BEFORE he approaches the table is pretty much
the same.He knows his current
skilllevel, and his existing strengths and weaknesses.He knows where he is vulnerable, and how he is
going to defend that weakness and shore up his defenses.

The
professional Precision-Shooter tailors his game-plan to meet the challenges that he can
anticipate, yet builds in enough flexibility to cope with any contingencies that might
come along.His intention, purpose and
objectives are clear. He knows how he is going to exploit opportunities when they occur,
and his plans specifically include methods to create and increase his own chances for
profitable victory.

Post-Game

The
post-game sports interviews are sometimes a completely different story than what you heard
during the pre-game.The victorious team will
talk about how they seized opportunities, and how certain players made outstanding
contributions.Theyll also talk at
length about the flawless execution of their game-plan strategy and tactics.

Theyll
talk about how they handled a couple of unusual circumstances, how they overcame
adversity, and how they adapted their style of play to match the real-world conditions out
on the field.On the other hand, the losing
teams representatives will shed a somewhat dimmer light and insight into how they missed
opportunities, fumbled sure-things, how discipline eroded, concentration failed, proper
plays werent executed and game-plans were abandoned.

For
a Precision-Shooter, the post-session thought-process is equally important to look at.You are compelled to take a long, cold and sober
look at what went right, what went wrong, and just how various betting-opportunities were
handled when they presented themselves.

Your
post-session review provides a 20/20 rearward view of exploited chances and missed
opportunities.You also get to determine
whether any mid-session second-guessing cost you money; if your decision-process was
paralyzed by fear, or if any of your well-laid betting-methods were struck down by greed.

Youll
be able to clearly see whether victorious profit was easily within your grasp and you let
it slip away, or whether you squeezed it by the throat and grabbed every last dollar that
trickled out.

This
is the time for determining WHY things turned out the way that they did.Whether victory eluded you right from the start,
or gradually eroded, you should be able to honestly assess the factors that contributed to
your success or failure.

ØWhat
were the elements that were in your control, and what should you have dealt with better?

ØWhat
would you do differently when faced with the same situation right now?

ØWhat
were the factors that were outside of your control?

ØWere
there any situations that you didnt anticipate or didnt handle as well as you
could have?

If
you arent asking yourself all of those questions after each and every craps session,
or you arent coming up with actionable answers; then you will continue to lose on a
very consistent basis.

Post-Session
Notes Improve Your Next Game

They
say that the definition of gambling insanity is to continue doing the same
things over and over again, but expecting to get a different result.Once in a while YOU WILL GET LUCKY, but for the
most part, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO LOSE, over and over and over again.Now that is just plain crazy!

If
you arent answering those key questions about what just happened at the tables; then
how on earth do you expect your next session to be any better.

A
Not-So-Gentle Reminder

Repeat
after me:

The
reason most skilled Precision-Shooters dont make more money is because of the way
that they BET, and NOT the way that they SHOOT!